The present invention relates to bicycle carriers of the type which are adapted for mounting on a rear body portion of the vehicle. Various different bicycle carriers have heretofore been proposed in which the bicycle carrier has feet or pads for engaging the rear body portion of a vehicle and adjustable straps and hooks for anchoring the bicycle carrier on the rear body portion of the vehicle. The shape and slope of the rear portion of the vehicle bodies on which the carriers are supported varies widely in different vehicles and in my prior bicycle carriers shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,085,874 and 4,182,467, the bicycle support arms were angularly adjustable over a wide range to extend generally horizontally for supporting bicycles in an upright position when the vehicle engaging feet engaged vehicle body portions of different shape and slope. However, my prior bicycle carriers could not be readily folded for compact storage when not in use and were not adjustable to vary the spacing of the vehicle engaging feet. The bicycle carrier shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,811 is foldable to a limited extent. However, the bicycle support arms of this patent are not angularly adjustable to support bicycles in a generally upright position at the rear of the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,839 discloses bicycle carriers which are collapsible for compact storage. However, the bicycle carriers disclosed in this patent utilize angulated side frames that are interconnected by a single cross member. The side frames are adapted to be turned relative to the cross member about the axis of one leg of the side frame between a folded position in which the angulated side frames are disposed adjacent the plane of the cross member, and an erected position in which the side frames are disposed in relatively parallel planes perpendicular to the cross member, and this arrangement limits the stability of the carrier in a direction crosswise of the vehicle.
In order to enable opening of the rear door or deck lid without removing the bicycle carrier, it is necessary to mount the bicycle carrier with all of its vehicle engaging feet within the edges of the rear door or deck lid of the vehicle. Also, in some installations such as where the rear vehicle door or lid has a glass insert, it is desirable to locate the vehicle engaging feet at a particular location on the panel. In addition, it is desirable in some installations to vary the vertical and horizontal position at which the carrier supports the bicycles relative to the vehicle, in order to provide clearance for the bicycles over obstacles such as bumpers, trailer hitches, exhaust pipes and the like or to vary the rearward projection of the bicycles relative to the vehicle. However, the prior bicycle carriers were not adjustable to vary the spacing of the vehicle engaging feet to adapt the carrier for mounting on some small rear doors or trunk lids or to enable positioning the vehicle engaging feet at a desired location on the rear door or lid. Accordingly, in some installations of prior bicycle carriers, the vehicle engaging feet had to rest on a non-moving part of the vehicle body, for example, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,710,999 and 3,927,811. Further, prior vehicle carriers were not adapted to adjust the horizontal and vertical position at which the carrier supported the bicycle relative to the vehicle.